Bottle-seal.



No. 885,409. PATENTED APR. 21, 1908.

. s. n. WEBB & e. SHILLINGQ BOTTLE SEAL.

APPLICATION FILED mm: 25. 1907.

0% AT E F 287i b1 eases UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL D. WEBB AND GEORGE SHILLING, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNORS OF ONE-FOURTH TO JUDSON H. SENCINDIVER, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

BOTTLE-SEAL.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, SAMUEL D. VVEBB and GEORGE SHILLING, both citizens of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bottle- Seals, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has a general relationship with bottle attachments: and has for its purpose the provision of a bottle, jar or other container with means which when the stopper or other closure has been removed, will serve to indicate such fact.

The invention is not restricted in its usefulness to bottles, but may be employed upon jars or other containers of wares of such character or manufacture as to render it important to afford assurance of the genuineness thereof: but to avoid unnecessary prolixity the invention is herein referred to as a bottle, seal, and the closure as a stopper, but it is distinctly to be understood that it will not be a departure from the scope or spirit of the invention to apply the seal to a container of any other suitable specific character having a closure of any nature suitable to the invention.

In order to carry our purpose into practical effect we have provided a sealing device having an element of such character that it may readily be fractured and is so related to the stopper that it must be fractured in order to permit the stopper to be removed or the contents of the bottle to be withdrawn, and also having a means which is permanently secured to the bottle and to which said element is attached, and which means will, by its existence on the bottle, serve to indicate that the container has been opened, when the sealing device has been fractured and removed. This constitutes one of the objects of the invention and the invention consists broadly in means whereby this object may be effectively accomplished.

In further pursuance of the object of the invention we have produced, as the means for permanent attachment to the bottle and for connecting the sealing element to the bottle, one which is of most simple and practical construction, may be most readily applied to a bottle adapted thereto and when applied cannot be removed without fracturing the bottle itself, and which, moreover, is of such construction that when the sealing element Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 25, 1907.

Patented April 21, 1908.

Serial No. 380,718.

referred to has been separated from it another sealing element cannot be connected with it without removing it from the bottle which, as already stated, can not be done without fracturing the bottle itself.

The invention further consists, therefore, in certain peculiarities in the construction and arrangement of parts, and in novel combination of elements substantially as hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the subjoined claims.

In the accompanying drawings we have shown what we at present regard as a most simple and effective form of the invention, which will serve to exemplify the invention, but to the details of which the invention is not restricted.

In the drawings :F igure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a bottle neck adapted to the present improvements. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the upper portion of the same and a side view of a seal, showing the parts separated but ready for application of the seal to the bottle. Fig. 8 is a sectional view through the bottle neck and seal. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the bottle neck with the seal ap lied thereto. Fig. 5 is a perspective view 0 the body-member of the seal. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the spring for securing said body member permanently to the bottle.

The same character of reference designate the same parts in the several views.

A designates the neck of a bottle, B the bottle stopper and C the seal. This seal is composed of two portions, one of which is of a fragile or breakable nature and is so related to the stopper that it must be fractured in order to permit the latter to be withdrawn and the other of which is of a nature such that when once applied to the bottle it cannot be removed therefrom without fracturing the bottle. These two portions of theseal are connected with each other, and are relatively such that they can be practically connected only when both are separated from the bottle. These are the essential features of the invention within which a wide range of variation as to the details of both portions of the seal is permissible without departure from the spirit of the invention or the scope of subjoined claims.

A most simple and practical form of seal will now be described:

1, 1 designate the body element of the holding members and 2 the fragile or breakable member of the seal which is connected to the holding members 1. As herein shown each of these body elements is of approximately t-form and has its upper wall provided with an aperture 3. It preferably is made of glass.

The breakable member 2, in the form herein shown consists of a cord or wire which extends from one body element 1 to the other, across the stopper B, and through the apertures 3 and has its ends provided with knots or heads 4 which are located in the chambers 5 in the body elements 1 and are of greater diameter than the apertures 3. These body elements are permanently secured to the bottle after the breakable element has been connected to them, and the means illustrated for this purpose consist of two fastening devices, 6, arranged in the chambers 5 of the body members respectively, and of approximately V-form. These fastening devices are made of resilient material, and when they are mounted in their respective chambers 5 with the side of one limb in close contact with the wall thereof, the other limb will project inclinatorily to a place which is outside the vertical plane of the forward edge of the body member 1.

The bottle neck A is specially formed to adapt it to this holding device: Thus as shown herein, it is provided with recesses 7 which'are formed in the outer wall of the mouth of the bottle, at diametrically opposite places. These recesses are of such size that the body members 1 will fit closely therein: and their inner walls are formed with grooves or indentations 8 which receive the free edges of the inclined limbs of the fastening devices 6. These grooves or indentations 8 are of size and shape such that the inclined limbs referred to will project thereinto sufficiently to practically prevent withdrawal of the holding members from the recesses after they have once been forced thereinto.

It will be apparent that after the ends of the members 2 have been connected to the holding members the latter are forced into the recesses until they are fully received therein: in which position an entirely inclosed chamber is formed for the fastening devices and the ends of the breakable member, preventing access to said fastening de vices and ends. In this position of the parts also the fastening devices project into the grooves or indentations 8 and cooperate therewith in effectually preventing withdrawal or separation of the holding member from the bottle.

The stopper B cannot be removed without fracturing the member 2, and when this has once been done a new breakable member cannot be connected with the holding member, without fracturing the bottle to permit separation of the holding member therefrom. Thus, while the bottle may be re-used, it can not be rescaled and this fact will prevent its being refilled with counterfeit wares and sold for the original.

From the foregoing, the purposes and advantages of the present invention will readily be understood, and it will be seen that we have provided a bottle with a sealing means which, without necessitating destruction of the bottle and preventing its re-use for all purposes whatever, will, prevent its being resealed after it has once been opened and by doing so will act to prohibit the refilling of the bottle with wares of a spurious nature.

It will of course be understood that the term breakable as herein employed is intended to include within its spirit; sealing elements of a nature such that it must be cut, or otherwise separated from the holding member with the aid of an instrument; in fact it is to be definitely understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention, which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having thus described the invention what we believe to be new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A sealing device for a container, provided with a holding member having means for permanently attaching it to the container and a breakable element connected to said member.

2. A sealing device for a container, provided with a breakable element and a holding member, said holding member connected to the breakable element and having a chamber and means in said chamber for securing. the holding member permanently to the container.

3. A sealing device for a container, provided with a breakable element and a holding member, said holding member connected to the, breakable element andhaving a chamber and a resilient device in said chamber'for securing the holding member permanently to the container.

4. A sealing device for a container, comprising a pair of holding members each of which is provided with a chamber having a resilient fastening device therein and an aperture leading from the chamber, and a breakable element having ends which extend through said apertures.

5. A bottle having recesses, holding members permanently fastened in said recesses and having closed chambers, and a sealing element having its ends arranged in said chambers, said element adapted to prevent withdrawal of the container-closure or contents of the container.

6. A bottle having recesses the walls of which are provided with grooves, holding members fitted to said recesses and provided with chambers which are closed when the holding members are seated in the recesses, fastening devices arranged in said chambers and having resilient elements which extend into the grooves and prevent Withdrawal of the holding members, and a sealing element having its ends arranged in said chambers.

7. A bottle, and a sealing means therefor, provided with a holding member permanently secured thereto, and a sealing element connected to the holding member and adapted to prevent withdrawal of the container-closure, or contents of the container, said holding member and sealing element being not connectible with each other when the former is attached to the container.

In testimony whereof we afliX our signatures, in presence of two witnesses.

SAMUEL D. WEBB. GEORGE SHILLING.

l/Vitnesses:

J. JEROME LIGHTFOO'I, CHAS. J. STOCKMAN. 

